1. Technical Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a hierarchical type edit command menu displaying method used for executing a command selection using menus having a hierarchical structure.
In an edit mode of a work station having advanced man-machine interface functions, an operator selects a desired command from a displayed pop-up menu. In particular, edit commands used e.g. in a circuit designing CAD are classified in hierarchies such as those for edit functions or kinds of edit objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows how menus are conventionally displayed. In FIG. 1, 2B indicates a display; 3A, 3B, 3C, . . . respectively indicate a primary hierarchy menu, a secondary hierarchy menu, a tertiary hierarchy menu, . . . ; 4 indicates an identical hierarchy command name displaying part; and 7-1 indicates a figure displaying window.
The case of FIG. 1 shows the following state in which: (i) command names A, B, C, . . . , Z exist on the primary hierarchy menu 3A; (ii) the command name D is pointed at on the primary hierarchy menu 3A; (iii) the secondary hierarchy menu 3B corresponding to the command name D is displayed; (iv) command names D1, D2, . . . , Dm exist on the secondary hierarchy menu (v) The tertiary hierarchy menu 3C corresponding to the command name D3 is displayed.
As is apparent from FIG. 1, if e.g. the command name D is pointed at, the corresponding junior ranked secondary hierarchy menu 3B is displayed at the corresponding position. The display positions are similar for other junior ranked hierarchies. The above has the advantage that the hierarchical relation is clearly understood.
However, this menu displaying method has the following disadvantages.
(1) Because menus are displayed parallelly in respective senior or junior hierarchies on the right as necessary, the space efficiency is low. (An edit object, such as a circuit diagram, displayed below is significantly concealed.) Besides, since the menus in respective hierarchies overlap with each other at the right margin of the screen, they are difficult to see, and operability is bad.
(2) The mouse movement distance is large, since the mouse operating method dictates that movement be performed by keeping the mouse button depressed and selection is performed at the position where the mouse button is not depressed. Minute maneuvering is especially difficult with the mouse button depressed. Therefore, it is impossible to perform interruptions, such as scrolling in the identical hierarchy of the menu itself during a command selection, scrolling on an edit object such as a circuit diagram, and additional selection of an edit object component. Also, since a pop-up type is premised, menus cannot be permanently stationed (and selection from an intermediate hierarchy is impossible).
For instance, at a hierarchical transition of the earlier described menus, (e.g. D of menu 3A.fwdarw.D3 of menu 3B.fwdarw.D31 of menu 3C,) after a positioning to a particular menu item line, the junior hierarchical menu is displayed by performing a mouse stroking to the outside of the right end of the menu region, i.e. by moving the mouse. In case of a movement to D of menu 3A, menu 3B is displayed. In case of a movement to D3 of menu 3B, menu 3C is displayed. (Refer to a stroke across each menu in FIG. 1.) These operations sequentially show the hierarchically structured menu.
During these operations, the operator needs to keep depressing the mouse button, because if the button is released during these operations, the menu item of the mouse cursor position at the released time is selected and finalized. As described earlier, the operator must keep depressing the button depressed to correctly trace the exact position in a vast menu region. In other words, the operator must perform two precise works at the same time, namely, "to keep the mouse button depressed and "to trace the exact position in the vast menu region". These operations are extremely difficult for the operator to perform.
These requirements are explained in more detail. Assume a menu in the most senior hierarchy is opened when the operator searches for the item to be selected from the list. At this time, although the operator wants to concentrate on "searching", he is forced to keep the mouse button depressed. When he finally finds the item's location, he has to move the mouse to the exact position of the item, and he also has to keep depressing the mouse button depressed during this movement. Once the mouse position is moved to the desired item by the mouse operations earlier described, its junior menus are newly displayed. The operator must keep repeating these operations, until he reaches the final desired item.
(3) Because all menu items in the identical hierarchy are always displayed, and since the edit object component such as a "noun to verb" type operation is selected in advance, the condensed display of only the menu items actually related (executable) cannot be performed, but can only be shown by changing the display luminance. Also, the selection instructions for junior or intermediate hierarchies are cumbersome, particularly when the selecting items are uniquely determined in the above operation.
For solving these points, this invention purports to improve the space efficiency for menu displaying and operability.